Defendant in sexual assault case sentenced for DUI
The last of three people charged in 2009 for an alleged sexual assault on a woman in a van as it was driven around downtown Billings was sentenced Friday in District Court.
Loren Lee Racine, 37, appeared before Judge Ingrid Gustafson after previously pleading guilty to felony DUI in an agreement with prosecutors that called for the dismissal of a second felony and four misdemeanor charges.
Gustafson agreed to follow a recommendation from prosecutors and sentenced Racine as a persistent felony offender to 10 years with the state Department of Corrections, with five years suspended.
Gustafson rejected a request from Racine's defense attorney for a five-year sentence, saying his criminal record now includes three felony and at least 44 misdemeanor convictions.
Racine briefly apologized before he was sentenced.
In November 2009, Racine and two co-defendants, Walter Willard Jensen Jr., 36, and Tammy Jo Highpine, 42, were accused of attacking a woman in a van. Prosecutors said Racine was driving the van as Jensen and Highpine assaulted the woman.
The trio were arrested following a brief chase that began when a police officer saw a woman stumble away from the van downtown.
The woman told police she spent the evening drinking with the three defendants, and Jensen began making sexual advances to her as they drove around. When she refused, she said, Jensen punched her in the face and then tried to pull down her pants.
The woman said Racine refused to stop the van and instead reached back and choked her as he continued to drive. Highpine also hit the woman and tried to help Jensen pull down her pants, prosecutors said.
The woman resisted until she was pushed out of the van, court record state.
Jensen and Highpine were both charged with felony attempted sexual assault.
That charge was later reduced to misdemeanor assault. In March, Jensen was ordered to serve 90 days in jail. Highpine was also sentenced in March to 79 days in jail.
